Eustace Winner

Eustace Winner

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Eustace Winner V · T · F
Occupation	Prosecutor student at Themis Legal Academy (lapsed) Prosecutor (Feb. 2019 - )
Biological information
Reckoned birth year(s) (this is for age comparison purposes, and so may look odd; click on the question mark for details)?	2002
Documented age range (as recorded in court record profiles & case files)	17* (The Captive Turnabout)
Last known status	Alive (Apr. 2019)
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Brown
Height (the metric (cm) values are sourced from official guidebooks and may not reflect the relative sizes of characters as depicted in-game or in other official media)	5'8"; 173 cm
Associates
Family	Excelsius Winner (father; arrested) An unnamed mother ("disappeared")
Friends	None mentioned
Affiliates	Verity Gavèlle (investigative partner) Franziska von Karma (fellow prosecutor) Miles Edgeworth (rival prosecutor) Themis Legal Academy (former school)
Aliases/nicknames
The Winner* (self-styled) Winniepooh* (by Delicia Scone)
One-off nicknames
DeWinner* (by Simeon Saint) Wiener kid* (by Eddie Fender) Wonderboy* (by Kay Faraday) Lil Winner* (by Eddie Fender) Baby Winner* (by Miles Edgeworth) Prosecutor Thwinner* (by a forensics investigator)
Names in other languages
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	一柳 弓彦 (Yumihiko Ichiyanagi) イチリュウ検事 (Ichiryū-kenji)* (self-styled; lit. first class prosecutor) イチヤナギ君 / イチヤナギくん (Ichiyanagi-kun)* (by Reiji Mitsurugi (Miles Edgeworth) & Tateyuki Shigaraki (Eddie Fender)) イチくん (Ichi-kun)* (by Delicy Scone (Delicia Scone)) ユミヒコさん (Yumihiko-san)* (by Hakari Mikagami (Verity Gavèlle)) 一柳検事さま (Ichiyanagi-kenji-sama)* (by Hakari Mikagami (Verity Gavèlle)) 弓彦 (Yumihiko)* (by Bansai Ichiyanagi (Excelsius Winner)) バカ息子 (Baka Musuko)* (by Bansai Ichiyanagi (Excelsius Winner); lit. idiot son)
French	Eustache Victor
Chinese (normally Chinese pronunciation of Japanese kanji; no longer applies as of AJT and AAIC)	一柳 吾恭 (Yīliǔ Wúgōng)* (in AAI Collection Trailer, Traditional Chinese Website, AAI Collection Demo and its initial release) 一柳 弓彦 (Yīliǔ Gōngyàn)* (in AAI Collection Simplified Chinese Website)
Actors
English	Endigo
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	Naotaka Noda
Miscellaneous
Debut episode	The Captive Turnabout
Musical theme	"Eustace Winner - Winning Deductions" "Eustace Winner - Winning Independence"

Eustace Winner

Though you might know me as just "THE Winner" -- a name they call me down at the Prosecutor's Office. With GREAT affection, I might add.

— The Captive Turnabout

Eustace Winner is a rookie prosecutor. He was assigned to take over a number of Miles Edgeworth's cases by the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence, which was headed by his father Excelsius. Although he graduated at the top of his class, he was incompetent to the point of being ridiculed by the likes of Kay Faraday, Dick Gumshoe, and Larry Butz. It would often fall to judge and Committee member Verity Gavèlle, who acted as his assistant, to challenge Edgeworth's logic. While starting out as incompetent, Eustace would eventually learn the truth about himself and reform his ways.

Early life

Eustace Winner was raised by his prosecutor father Excelsius, who would often verbally abuse him. His mother "disappeared" at one point, and since Excelsius frequently made people "disappear" as a euphemism for being thrown in jail, kidnapped or worse, it is likely that something along those lines happened to his wife ^{[citation needed]}. Eustace attended Themis Legal Academy, where he took the prosecutor course. He received many awards, graduated at the top of his class and was valedictorian, earning him a special red jacket. However, unbeknownst to Eustace, all of these accolades were only due to the influence and manipulations of his father.

Eustace's "winning deductions"

Main articles: The Captive Turnabout & Turnabout Legacy

The "genius" prosecutor Eustace Winner.

Eustace's supposed prowess was soon put to the test when Excelsius sent him to be in charge of the investigation into Bronco Knight's murder at the local prison, accompanied by judge and Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence member Verity Gavèlle. They searched the entire prison for the murder weapon, to no avail. Despite taking over the case from Miles Edgeworth, Eustace had trouble following the details of the case, resulting in the former easily rebutting his arguments. Nonetheless, Edgeworth eventually found the murder weapon and indicted Fifi Laguarde as Knight's killer. The evidence was handed over to Eustace, who decided to give it to his father for safekeeping.

A few days later, Eustace and Gavèlle were sent to Samson Tangaroa's mansion, which had become the scene of an attempted murder via poison gas. Eustace encountered Edgeworth once again, but again had little grasp on the information that he was supposed to have gathered. The young prosecutor practically faded into irrelevance after a failed attempt to indict Larry Butz. He watched as Edgeworth connected the poisoning to the IS-7 Incident, found the culprit behind the poisoning, and exposed the victim, Carmelo Gusto, as the culprit behind the IS-7 Incident.

Humiliation

Three days later, Committee member Rosie Ringer was found dead in the Committee chamber at the Bigg Building. Excelsius moved to arrest Kay Faraday for the murder, but Edgeworth defied him, even willingly turning in his badge to escape the leverage that Excelsius had over him as the chair of the Committee. During the investigation, Eustace met Franziska von Karma, who had no qualms with giving, both verbally and with her whip, her opinion of Eustace's competence.

Edgeworth eventually accused Excelsius of Ringer's murder. During the ensuing arguments between the two, it was revealed that the killer had a burn mark on his face. It was then that Eustace realized that his own father was indeed the killer. Eustace tried to deny this truth as Excelsius's other allies turned on him. His father then maliciously revealed to Eustace that all his good grades and awards that he was so proud of were due to his influence, and said that Eustace was not even worthy of being called his son. Completely humiliated, Eustace ran from the Committee chamber in tears. Excelsius was then arrested for the murder.

Confronting his father

Bound and gagged.

Eustace ran outside the Bigg Building, where he encountered two men in black. The men asked him whether he knew Gavèlle, and when he said that he did, he was suddenly bound, gagged, and placed inside a box. He was left at the Winner residence, near the back door of the garage, and was told that Excelsius had ordered the kidnapping. All Eustace could do until he was found was to reflect on his own uselessness and confusion as to why his own father had him kidnapped.

Edgeworth and Faraday discovered him while searching for Shaun Fenn, whom Excelsius had supposedly kidnapped to coerce Gavèlle to acquit Fifi Laguarde. Eustace was in a terrible emotional state and on the verge of a mental breakdown, unable to trust anyone. To his surprise, however, Edgeworth showed that he was willing to listen to him. From the information that he managed to get out of Eustace, Edgeworth deduced that Excelsius had meant to kidnap Fenn, but his men had accidentally kidnapped Eustace instead. Eustace also realized that his father had betrayed him and thrown the evidence against Laguarde in the trash.

Desperately hunting for evidence at the dump.

Edgeworth then offered his support, but said that Eustace would have to decide his path for himself going forward. Eustace decided that he wanted to continue as a prosecutor, but he would be different from his father and would overcome him. Now knowing what to do, Eustace bolted from the house and unlocked a safe owned by Excelsius at the Bigg Building's 51st floor. He then ran to the dump and searched through the piles of rubbish for the discarded evidence, but could only find a bell wrapped inside a newspaper.

Eustace hurriedly returned to the courtroom where Laguarde was being tried. Von Karma, who had been acting in Eustace's stead, saw the young prosecutor's resolve and agreed to give the prosecutor's bench back to him. Excelsius laughed at his son for his apparent failure to produce decisive evidence. Despite everything, Eustace was still reluctant to convict his own father but, with Edgeworth by his side, he regained his determination and connected an oily handprint on the newspaper to Excelsius's biker gloves. Excelsius was finally defeated and broke down in court while screaming his son's name in anger. Despite his mistreatment, Eustace still thanked his father for all that he had done for him and bid him goodbye. In the aftermath of the trial, Eustace resolved to improve himself, starting with deciding a new, better nickname.

Personality

Mugshot.

Eustace was obsessed with being better than everyone else in the things he did. Even mentioning the word "first" was liable to make him want to do whatever was being talked about before anyone else, a fact that was sometimes taken advantage of by others. This rash tendency would also cause him to indict people without any real basis. While he was often very arrogant and condescending, as he considered himself the best in all things, Eustace would break into tears rather easily when proven wrong. He also had few qualms with taking credit for the hard work of others, claiming to have found various pieces of evidence when police officers had found them on their own.

As an investigator, Eustace was not very competent. His logic was full of holes and frequently made no sense, and he would sometimes present incorrect evidence (or even forget the name of said evidence) and not even realize it until corrected by Gavèlle. Additionally, he would frequently lag behind everyone else in what was happening in a case (or even a conversation) and would often use the wrong word in a sentence. This meant that it was often left to Gavèlle to gently push Eustace in the correct direction or to combat Edgeworth's logic on her own.

Eustace had a very childish and naive view of what it meant to be a prosecutor; he believed that his purpose as a prosecutor was to defeat his rivals. Much of this attitude is attributable to his father, whom he admired and whose approval he sought. As Eustace's "achievements" stemmed from his father's influence rather than his own merit, he was ill-prepared for the realities of criminal investigation. In a bitter irony, the first time he actually found the truth before anyone else was when he realized that his own father was a criminal, a discovery from which he could derive no satisfaction.

Other people tended to show Eustace little respect, if they acknowledged him at all. Although Edgeworth and Gavèlle usually employed some throat-clearing before ignoring Eustace, Franziska von Karma would instead whip him. Even Larry Butz referred to him as an idiot, which is quite the achievement considering Butz's own reputation. However, the person who was the most flagrantly dismissive of Eustace was his own father. Excelsius frequently called him an idiot, openly lamented having such a foolish son, and later showed great relish in telling Eustace the truth about his grades and awards.

After his father's arrest, Eustace felt betrayed by everyone, becoming far more timid and insecure. However, Edgeworth lent him a helping hand and gave him the resolve to face his father, the one who had truly betrayed him. He learned to rely on himself rather than to try to gain approval from others, and though he still lacked confidence, he became a far more competent thinker than he was before. Despite everything, he did not hate his father, but maturely acknowledged that Excelsius helped shape who he was.

When investigating a crime scene, Eustace pokes evidence with his baton to see what happens. He also wears gloves so that he never leaves his own fingerprints on a piece of evidence.

Name

• Japanese - Yumihiko Ichiyanagi (一柳 弓彦):
  • His compulsive desire to be "first" and "number one" is reflected in his Japanese surname, "Ichiyanagi". The kanji character "ichi" (一) means "one" and the character "yanagi" (柳) has the alternate pronunciation "ryuu". This gives the alternative reading "Ichiryū" (一流), meaning "first class", which Yumihiko uses as a nickname. If the second character is replaced with the homophone "龍" and placed in front of "一", the result is Phoenix Wright's Japanese given name "Ryūichi" (龍一).
  • His Japanese given name, "Yumihiko", sounds like the name of a wealthy person. However, his full name creates the expression "pulling a bow without an arrow" (一矢無き弓を引く, ichiya naki yumi wo hiku), which accurately describes the quality of his deductions.
• English/French - Eustace Winner / Eustache Victor:
  • The name "Eustace/Eustache" comes from "εὐστᾰθής" (eustathis), which means "steadfast" and could be irony. The name Eustace also sounds like "useless", though this only applies for the English name. Eustace as a name also has a reputation for being applied to upper-class and/or irritating, unpleasant characters, such as Eustace Scrubb, who is introduced in the Chronicles of Narnia books with the line "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
  • The last names "Winner" and "Victor" are real surnames and were possibly chosen to incorporate similar wordplay to the Japanese surname.
  • In a similar vein to Eustace sounding like "useless", Eustache encapsulates the word "tache" (lit. "stain"), which is often used to refer to someone who is pathetic.
• Chinese - Yīliǔ Wúgōng (一柳吾恭) / Yīliǔ Gōngyàn (一柳弓彦):
  • Eustace's Chinese given name, "Wúgōng" (吾恭), might be a play on the phrase "Wú Gōng" (无功), which means "of no use." Or it might be the phrase "Wú Gōng" (无弓), meaning "without a bow", resembling his Japanese name joke.
  • His surname, "Yīliǔ" (一柳), is a direct reference to his Japanese surname. In Chinese, "Yīliú" (一柳/一流) sound similar.
  • Few weeks after the trailer's release, Eustace's Simplified Chinese name displayed on the AAI Collection Introduction Website has been changed into "一柳弓彦", which is identical to his Japanese name. The reason of the change is left unknown but speculation says it might because "吾恭" is also sharing the same pronounciation with the phrase "蜈蚣" (Wúgōng), meaning "centipede". It could be changed due to causing negative impacts to the character and the game, however, that doesn't explain why the in-game name is remained "一柳吾恭".
  • In the initial release of AAI Collection, Eustace's Chinese name is still "一柳吾恭", not "一柳弓彦".

Unofficial

• English - Sebastian Debeste:
  • "Sebastian" is a Greek name that roughly means "adored" or "revered". "Debeste" is a play on the phrase "the best" (with "de beste" also being Dutch for "the best"), which is used as Sebastian's nickname to replace "Ichiryū". "Sebastian" may also be a reference to Saint Sebastian, who is often depicted in art and literature having been shot with arrows, paralleling the "bow" connotation of his Japanese given name (incidentally, his father's name in the fan patch, "Blaise", was the name of a saint who was a bishop in Sebastea (modern-day Sivas, Turkey); "Sebastian" means "someone from Sebastea", thereby linking the names of Blaise and Sebastian Debeste). Finally, "Sebastian" could be a reference to the classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach, owing to his habit of waving a baton about like an orchestra conductor.
• French - Sébastien Larchet:
  • "Sébastien" carries the same connotations and meaning as "Sebastian" in the English fan translation. His name is also a play on "tient l'archet", referencing his habit of waving a baton about like an orchestra conductor.
• Brazilian Portuguese - Breno Melior:
  • "Breno", with roots in the Welsh word "brenin", means "leader", "superior", or "noble." "Melior" is a Latin adjective that means "better than" or, more fittingly, "the best" (additionally, the Brazilian Portuguese word for "the best", "melhor", is derived from it). Put together, his full name reads "the best leader". Moreover, "Breno" is a word reminiscent of "menos", meaning "less than" or "lesser", in contrast to his father's name "Brás" being reminiscent of "mais", meaning "more" or "greater".

Development

• Eustace was apparently by far the most popular character introduced in Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit with the female staff at Capcom. He is also Takeshi Yamazaki's favorite character introduced in Prosecutor's Gambit.
• Underneath his coat, Eustace wears a blue Themis Legal Academy uniform. It was confirmed by the Gyakuten Saiban 5 Official Complete Guidebook that he studied there, and that the blue uniform he wears was previously the uniform for students taking the prosecutor course until it was changed in later years to the red uniform seen in Turnabout Academy.
• Eustace and his father are the only prosecutors to date who actually openly wear their prosecutor's badges.
• He has a noticeable slim forelock of hair that sticks up from from his head, usually reminiscent of a question mark, but changing to an exclamation mark in some of his reaction sprites. This type of hair is known as ahoge (lit. "idiot/stupid hair") in Japanese culture, a term that suits his character well. According to head illustrator Tatsuro Iwamoto, Eustace carefully styles his hair this way every morning.
• Eustace conducts in 3/4 time, which is the same time signature as his theme "Eustace Winner - Winning Deductions". The song itself is a waltz, a style of dance music that is always in 3/4 time.
• After Miles Edgeworth, Eustace is the second prosecutor who successfully achieved an onscreen "Guilty" verdict that wasn't later overturned. However, unlike Edgeworth, the defense attorney he defeated was not controlled by the player at the time.
• Eustace shares some similarities with Franziska von Karma; both were prosecutors constantly chasing after their fathers' approval, had obsessions with being the best, and had to deal with the shock of finding out that their fathers were criminals. Additionally, in both cases it was the positive influence of Miles Edgeworth that set them on a better path. The way he handles his baton in some animations also resembles Franziska's handling of her riding crop in Turnabout Reminiscence.